China’s bauxite import from India halves while total imports rise 0.11% YoY in March ‘17

China's bauxite imports in March 2017 increased marginally. The country purchased 5.06 million tonnes of aluminium ore from the global market, a quantity higher by 0.11 per cent from that purchased in March 2016. Total bauxite imports during the first three months of the current year totalled 13.9 million tonnes.

Australia remained the top bauxite supplier to China in March. The island country shipped 1.87 million tonnes of bauxite to China, up 8.24 per cent from the same period previous year. Australia was followed by Guinea. The country shipped 1.85 million tonnes bauxite to China in March 2017. Bauxite exports from Guinea increased at the highest year-on-year rate (98.38 per cent). During the initial three months of 2017, Guinea exported 4.8 million tonnes of bauxite to China.

India’s bauxite export to China declined by 53 per cent year-on-year in March. The export volume for the month was estimated at 319,854 tonnes, while three-month cumulative volume totalled 619,228 tonnes.

Other major bauxite exporting countries which supplied China with the ore in March 2017 were Malaysia, Brazil, Republic of Ghana, and Solomon Islands. Bauxite imports from the countries were estimated at 481,149 tonnes, 318,558 tonnes, 106,824 tonnes and 105,113 tonnes respectively during the period under review.

{googleAdsense}

China’s alumina imports also grew in tandem with bauxite imports in March 2017. The country imported 420,834 tonnes of alumina in March this year, up 17 per cent from the corresponding period previous year.

The major countries supplying alumina to China were Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Jamaica, France, Japan Germany, the US, and South Korea.